Investigating the investigators: Sen. Graham pushes to declassify key docs on Steele dossier
Is the Republican senator's request realistic? Former assistant FBI Director Chris Swecker reacts.
A former FBI assistant director said Monday that it was "realistic" for Sen. Linsdey Graham to push to declassify key documents related to the FBI’s surveillance of Trump campaign officials as part of its Russia probe.
“The executive branch can declassify,” Chris Swecker told Fox News’ "America’s Newsroom.”
“I don’t think we’re going to give away any state secrets here.”
Graham, a Republican and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Sunday the documents he is seeking to declassify will prove that FBI officials knew that the Steele dossier used to conduct surveillance of a former Trump campaign advisor contained unverified information.
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The FBI used the dossier to obtain warrants from a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act judge to eavesdrop on Carter Page in October 2016.
“It’s a very intrusive process,” Swecker said of FISA. “You have to give them all the information, not select information, and you have an obligation to update that information if something new comes up that goes against the probable cause laid out in the original affidavit.”
He added, “I think there are strong indications that there were some FISA abuses here, that information critical was withheld from the judges."
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Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is reportedly close to issuing a report examining the FBI’s use of the Steele dossier to investigate the Trump campaign.
Swecker said he expects Horowitz will find abuses.
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“I think there is something there and I think it’s going to be a very impactful report,” he said.
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